The other day when my computer was connected to the internet, I found some furious activity in the modem, even though I had not started any downloads yet. I wondered if it was Microsoft at it again with their usual automatic monthly downloads. I soon realized that we were well past the second Tuesday of the month when these downloads happen from Microsoft. Perhaps it was some other software getting automatically updated, I wondered. Since my computer was protected with the latest antivirus package, I did not worry about this, and got on with my work.

Several hours later, when I had put my computer on standby to take a break, I heard some disk activity from my computer. I rushed to the computer and again found the lights on the modem violently flickering, and my computer seemed to be fully active even though it was supposed to be on standby. I tapped one of the keys to get the computer back to the active mode, and sat back to take a good look at what was happening.

What I saw nearly made me jump out of my skin. Some files were open. The mouse was moving all around, stopping for a moment here and there. Some files closed and others opened. I tried to move the mouse, but I had no control over it, it seemed to be moving by itself. What do I do without the mouse? I kept clicking the mouse, hoping it would start working. Right-click, then left-click, click, click, click, but the mouse did not follow my commands. My mind stopped working. I took a deep breath and waited, hoping it would start working again, and all the time the mouse was working on the screen, as if controlled by someone else.

After what seemed an eternity, my mind started racing again. I pushed the start button and kept it pressed, the usual command for emergency shutdown. Five seconds passed, and nothing happened. Be patient, I thought, and kept the button pressed. Even after a minute nothing happened. I was in a panic.